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Community gardens are digging in to launch for the season across Edmonton, even as local green thumbs negotiate a dizzying array of new rules dictated by COVID-19.

The city of Edmonton, mirroring protocols by the chief medical officer of health, requires that community gardens rope off picnic tables and sitting areas, sanitize common touch points and cease using common tools.

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Only 15 people can be in a community garden at one time, and they must remain two metres apart. Organizers must come up with a schedule for garden tending to prevent too many people from showing up at once.

“It’s still possible, but it does change the ease of gardening for sure,” says Justin Keats, garden director of Oliver Community League, which has run the downtown Peace Garden since 2009. “The shed will be off-limits, and we have to lock down communal tools and figure out sanitation supplies. It’s a lot to do.

“The positive is that we are able to garden and try to take some normalcy from the situation.”

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Oliver residents are within walking distance of the Peace Garden, which has 87 plots and a waiting list of 200. But across the city many gardeners take the bus to plots, and carrying large or unwieldy tools is difficult.

Another challenge is making sure gardeners follow the new rules, says Junetta Jamerson, community garden facilitator for Sustainable Food Edmonton, which distributes grant money for plots.

“It’s different than a business or a company, where there is a supervisor or a system in place to make sure these emergency safety measures are being adhered to,” she says. “Nobody is being paid to be there and provide that oversight. They’re volunteers. It’s a lot of responsibility.”

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Still, Jamerson expects organizers and gardeners to step up and meet the requirements.

“The alternative, as we’re seeing in other parts of Canada, is to shut down,” she says.

Community volunteers, like the ones in the Green and Gold Garden in the University of Alberta’s south campus, are modifying their operations to meet new safety rules. Ed Kaiser/Postmedia fileEd Kaiser/Postmedia

Edmonton has a rich history of gardening together, according to Why Grow Here, a 2015 book on Edmonton’s gardening culture written by historian Kathryn Chase Merrett. The Edmonton Vacant Lots Garden Club was formed in 1916 on the urging of the lieutenant-governor of the day, who wanted to boost food productivity, develop civic pride and beautify the city. During the First World War, more than 2,800 vacant lots were turned over to grow food.

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Depression gardens in the Dirty Thirties were a reaction to hard times, and a way for unemployed people to feed their families. Canadians dug victory gardens as a patriotic gesture during the Second World War, so more farming resources could be put toward the war effort.

Attention waned from the 1950s on, and by 1989 there were only 10 community plots in Edmonton. But a renewed interest in sustainability has led to food production on an estimated 120 community plots sprouting on private and city land.

In light of COVID-19, local food production is intensifying, with reports of seed shortages and longer delivery times for products. Nicole Fraser, general supervisor of operations, planning and monitoring for the city, says the city is responding to community need.

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“We wanted people to have the opportunity to grow food this year, especially considering food security and availability of food, and the fact that people’s incomes might have changed.”

Fraser says the city doesn’t expect garden organizers to submit their plans for the new rules.

“This is something that we trust to these organized groups, who have been gardening for years or decades in some cases,” says Fraser. “We are hoping they will have a good and safe experience this year.”

The city is helping community gardens by producing guideline signs to be posted in community gardens. It’s also creating two other fresh food options for citizens, including a new pop-up program.

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Based on need, the city will supply and deliver a large planter to eligible applicants, fill it with dirt and provide water for a pop-up garden. Fraser says city of Edmonton greenhouse space, plus extra plots of city land will be planted with vegetables and maintained by staff for use by Edmonton’s Food Bank and other organizations.

Fraser said details on the new programs should be available online shortly.

Over at Highlands community garden, where members held a work-bee over the weekend, there is a new hand-washing station and lots of donated hand sanitizer. Organizer Trish Fontaine says they have reduced the number of rain barrels to cut back on touch points. All the plots have been numbered, and a new schedule sees some gardeners weeding and watering in the morning, and others in the afternoon.

Fontaine received an e-mail from a gardener saying they couldn’t attend the work-bee because they had a child in the family who was immune-compromised.

“It’s a good reminder that we do have people with higher concerns, and a reminder that everyone is coming from a different place,” she says.

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